The Storm Sullivan Saga: The Emerald Seer Series Box Set

by Violet Patterson

  “This was not foreseen, Roane.” Damarra could not make him understand. How would she make him understand?”

  “What do you mean?” Her Immortal sat back on his heels.

  “I mean, Almha orchestrated all of this because my future disappeared. Our child was not meant to be.” Damarra hung her head in her hands.

  “But he is here now. Nothing else matters.” Roane began stroking her hair, his voice gentle and kind.

  “You do not understand, Immortal. When a deity’s future disappears it means they move on to another existence. I was supposed to move on. Instead, I have brought something into existence that was not meant to be. I changed things that were not meant to be changed.” Damarra hesitated. How could she say what she was really thinking? “He should not exist, Roane. I do not know what we made but we were wrong to make him and we have no way of knowing what is going to happen.”

  “Then we are like most parents, my love. Do not doom us when you cannot possibly know what is going to come of our choices.” Roane lifted her head and brushed the tears away with her thumbs. “Please do not despair, my love. Destinies can be altered, things can be changed.”

  “You do not understand. If we do this, if we want him to have a destiny and a purpose then we have to raise him in that realm. We have to take him there so a destiny can attach to him.” Damarra paused. “Everything I believed in has turned out to be false. I do not know that I made the right choices and I am not certain I would have made the same ones if I knew everything.”

  “You would not have chosen me?” Roane asked earnestly. She sized him up, studied the fine lines of his face, remembered the feel of his hands on her body, the softness of his lips on hers.

  “I cannot know. I cannot go back and give that self the knowledge I have now and I cannot undo how I feel about you.” Damarra hated the pain on his face. It caused a relentless pain in her chest. “I love you, Roane, and nothing can change that now.”

  He stood and walked away from her. “I will take our son to the other realm and raise him. I will teach him the ways of that world. You can visit when you wish.” Roane lifted their child and walked to the door. He opened it and called for Credne. They disappeared together as Damarra sat paralyzed on the floor, despairing over the futures she could not see. Roane’s words sank in, broke through her paralysis and set her to her feet, running after her mate and her child.

  Damarra - Almost eighteen years later

  She stood looking at the stars. They were restless again. She understood the feeling. Restless. Unable to find peace any longer. She knew why. It troubled her greatly. Damarra did not hear Roane approach until he was nearly upon her. The warmth of his arm about her waist settled the angst momentarily, his usual effect on her.

  “Have I told you how grateful I am that you followed me?” Roane pulled her closer to him. His scent flooding her nose, familiar and welcoming, her favorite smell in the world.

  “Yes, once or twice.” Damarra smiled up at the sky. He told her every day, often several times a day.

  “He is asleep.” Roane nuzzled her neck. “He asked me again tonight.”

  “About us?” Damarra’s breath caught.

  “Yes. He knows he is different, that we are different. I do not believe the glamours are fooling him anymore, darling.” Roane spun her to face him. “I think it is time to tell him, Damarra. He needs to know.”

  “I know, but what happens then? You know what Credne said.” Panic filled Damarra’s chest, the weight of her anxiety pressing in from all sides.

  “Yes, I know what Credne said, remember, he said it to me. It does not mean things will go badly, it just means he will know and be equipped to deal with whatever happens next.” Roane brushed her hair from her face. “He is not a child anymore, Damarra.”

  Sighing, Damarra leaned into Roane, embracing him at the waist as tightly as she could manage. “I know, I know. It is time.”

  “It is time to face whatever happens next.” Roane squeezed her gently. “We can get through anything together, Damarra. I think we have proven that much.”

  She inclined her head slightly, unable to wholeheartedly agree. Instead of responding, Damarra looked out over the cool night sky. Snowcapped mountains sparkled in the distance and made her long for her sanctuary. Perhaps she would be able to visit again once her son knew the truth, once he set out upon the world to meet his destiny. Perhaps. Somehow, Damarra did not think it would be so easy.

  “I was thinking it would be better to tell him on his birth date.” Roane moved up to lean on the windowsill beside her.

  “Friday?” Damarra looked up at him. “So soon?”

  “It is not that soon, darling. Besides, the moon will be new. It is a good time, especially since the others will arrive that night. We may need them.” Roane smiled upon her, his face lighting up with expectation and excitement. “We will make it through this, Damarra, no matter what comes. We will face all the ages of this world together.”

  Damarra – under the new moon

  “Leave me alone!” Calibos stalked out of the room and down the hall. Damarra heard the door slam behind him.

  “That went well.” Roane stepped to her side placing his hand at the small of her back.

  “This is what I feared.” One of many things, actually, but her mate knew full well the depths of her fears. Damarra frowned, the weight of her guilt coming full circle once more.

  “You fear many things, my love. Not all of them will come to pass.” Roane pulled her into his arms. “Perhaps Credne will have better luck with him. You know how persuasive he can be.”

  “Indeed. That is if our son does not flee before they arrive.” Damarra voiced another of her many fears. Something she had foreseen as a possibility but not relayed to Roane. It had been so long since she had had a vision that she could not be sure it was not a trick of her own mind. Nothing seemed certain or clear anymore, as if a fog followed her about.

  “Why would you think that? Should I go speak with him?” Roane kissed her forehead lightly. “Do not answer that. I will go to him.”

  “My kin will arrive at sunset.” Damarra squeezed his hand once more before pushing him toward their son’s room.

  “It will be alright, my love, we will get through to him.” Roane ran his thumb over her lips and followed with a feather light kiss.

  “Get through to me? What is there to get through to me?” Calibos appeared in the doorway to the main room, his eyes red-rimmed and a satchel over his shoulder. “You just told me that I am not human and neither are you. I have some ridiculous destiny to fulfill and it doesn’t matter that I love somebody, that I want to be a doctor, that I had plans for my life. That’s about it, right?”

  “Calibos, we just want you to understand –“ Damarra heard the pleading in her voice, the desperation, and cringed. Roane took her hand and squeezed, standing beside her as words failed.

  “We just want you to understand why we waited to tell you, to give us a chance to explain.” Roane gestured to a chair and led Damarra to another, opposite their son.

  “Because you are my parents, you have five minutes.” Calibos sat rigidly, staring out the window instead of looking at them. Damarra hated the coldness that crept into his eyes. Fear trickled up and down her spine.

  “Calibos, we were protecting you. We did not know what you would be like, how fast you would grow, what powers you would possess. You have to understand, we were just doing this to protect you.” Damarra pled again, reaching out for her son’s hands but he withdrew from her.

  “Powers? Protection? Do you know how insane this all sounds?” Calibos screeched his chair across the floor, backing further away. “I do not want any of this!”

  “You do not know what this means for you yet.” Roane spoke evenly, holding Calibos’ eye.

  “You do not know either,” Calibos spit back.

  “My kin will arrive soon enough and then we will get a better idea.” Damarra tried her most soothing tone, drawing on he
r years as a mediator, piecing together the powers that had not been bound when she came to this realm.

  “Your kin? Gods and goddesses, right? Is that what you are telling me? That I am some sort of demigod? Really, mother?” Calibos scoffed.

  “You should be more respectful, boy.” A voice carried across the room as if on a breeze. Credne climbed in the window. “She is your mother and deserves more from you.” Calibos began to protest but Credne raised a hand to silence him. “More are coming and I suggest you sit silently until they are all here.” A knock at the door followed and Credne crossed the room to open it. Damarra stood as her kin paraded into the room led by Almha. Calibos’ eyes flared as the entourage filled their room, the varying, otherworldly appearances a stark contrast to everyone he had ever met.

  “I understand you are having difficulty accepting the truth, Calibos. Whether you accept it or not, the truth remains so.” Almha swept close to him, peering down into his eyes. Damarra wondered what he thought about Almha’s swirling white eyes. His expression was unreadable as Almha reached out her hand to his forehead. “I have not seen you in some time, child. You have grown quite tall.”

  “Your visions have returned, Damarra?” Almha tilted her head toward Damarra, her eyes roving and whirling.

  “I do not think so.” Damarra could not be sure, could not know that it was a vision for certain.

  “They have started, everything has started again as your son comes of age. We have protected you as long as possible but now, he must come into his own and that means knowing you as you truly are.” Almha turned back to Calibos, “You have much growing to do, many lessons to learn, and it is time you understand your abilities and their limitations. We will all be working with you to teach you the way, to instruct you on the ways of this world and some of the others, and to help you along your path to fulfilling your destiny.”

  “What does that mean?” Calibos spoke reverently to Almha, seemingly unable to look away.

  “It means that you are no longer a child. You cannot behave in childish ways or run off at your every whim. It means that as you gain control of your abilities you will need to exercise discretion. It means that you will not be leaving your parents’ home unless accompanied by one of the number you see here this evening. It means that as we herald in the anniversary of your birth you enter manhood much as those of your father’s line.” Almha looked upon the timepiece on their mantle. “It means that you are about to realize we have only spoken the truth.”

  Damarra - Several hundred years later

  She never saw this destiny for her son. Roane stood beside her with an arm about her waist in a comforting gesture. Her kin were arguing over the broken body of her only child and she felt nothing.

  “He has cursed Roane, his own father.”

  “He has turned from the path laid before him.”

  “He must be punished.”

  “He must be questioned for information on our enemy.”

  “We must send him over to the others. They will decide what is best.” Almha’s voice carried over all others, her soft but clear tone breaking the tension. “He will face the judgment of the Tuatha De.”

  Roane squeezed Damarra’s shoulder lightly. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Speak now so that we may go along.”

  Damarra stood stiffly and addressed her kin for the first time since delivering her son to them. “The Immortal and I wish to accompany our son to the Tuatha De. We wish to hear what they glean from him so that we may aid our granddaughter, the Emerald.”

  Almha turned to them, Damarra felt her eyes upon them as they stood, like they had so many years ago. “It will be done. You must hear what they have to say, you must understand what comes next.”

  “I understand. We are prepared to do what we must to prevail.” Damarra led Roane to the bleeding body of their son, the traitorous creature she had come to regret so many times over the years. Cruel that the one thing she wanted from her existence turned everything she loved into darkness. Her worst fears came to pass and she tortured herself in the dark realm as a result. For years Damarra toiled away, punishing herself physically and mentally until Almha and Credne arrived with a morsel of hope. A child. A way to fix it all. A granddaughter born from the diseased heart of her only son and a Sullivan Seer. When Damarra saw the baby girl in the arms of Sophie Sullivan she recognized the child had seen in that vision so long ago. Damarra vowed to fix it all and find a way to be with her granddaughter, her lovely, strong Storm. Yes, in the end Storm would be fine even if Damarra had to give up everything to achieve it.

  Almha whispered in her ear, “That may be necessary in the end my friend. I am so sorry for the pain I have caused you. It was not my intention.”

  Everything whirled away, beams of light and the coolness of an Irish mist. Then it was still and Damarra felt the warmth of Roane’s hand in hers. She opened her eyes.

  “Welcome, Damarra and Roane. We have been waiting for you.” A spindly male she half recognized stepped forward with shackles. “I see these are unnecessary as you have incapacitated the Anomaly already.”

  “Yes. He will be no more trouble.” Damarra gestured toward the unconscious form of her son, not an ounce of pity for the traitorous, ungrateful, fool.

  “That remains to be seen.” The spindly male touched his forehead and a few others appeared, all colored differently, each more lovely than the next. Roane remained by her side and she had to squeeze his hand to urge him forward, following their hosts as they floated Calibos through the air before them. “Follow me to your domicile. It has been prepared for some time and will afford you the opportunity to look in on your granddaughter. We understand she is quite remarkable already.”

  “Indeed, she is most remarkable.” Damarra smiled to herself.

  END OF THE NIGHT

  EMERALD SEER IV

  It all ends here…..

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 Storm

  Chapter 2 Angeline

  Chapter 3 Storm

  Chapter 4 Lucian

  Chapter 5 Storm

  Chapter 6 Ryder

  Chapter 7 Angeline

  Chapter 8 Lucian

  Chapter 9 Storm

  Chapter 10 Angeline

  Chapter 11 Lucian

  Chapter 12 Storm

  Chapter 13 Ryder

  Chapter 14 Angeline

  Chapter 15 Storm

  Chapter 16 Lucian

  Chapter 17 Storm

  Chapter 18 Lucian

  Chapter 19 Damarra

  Chapter 20 Ryder

  Chapter 21 Storm

  Chapter 22 Lucian

  Chapter 23 Storm

  Chapter 24 Lucian

  Chapter 25 Storm

  Chapter 26 Lucian

  Chapter 27 Storm

  Chapter 28 Lucian

  Chapter 29 Storm

  Chapter 30 Lucian

  Chapter 31 Storm

  Chapter 32 Lucian

  Chapter 33 Storm

  Chapter 34 Angeline

  Chapter 35 Ryder

  Chapter 36 Storm

  Chapter 37 Angeline

  Chapter 38 Lucian

  Chapter 39 Storm

  Chapter 40 Angeline

  Chapter 41 Ryder

  Chapter 42 Storm

  Epilogue – THE END

  Prologue – The tragedy of Morrigan

  His hands roved over her bare flesh with such familiarity. His lips found her neck sending shivers down her spine. Long black hair fell in his face and hid his piercing eyes from her. She brushed the hair away and stared into them, the swirling greenish-blue. He was beautiful.

  “Morrigan.” His voice came out breathless followed by a guttural moan as she ran her nails up his back and over his shoulder blades. She pressed into him with the length of her naked form wrapping a leg around his waist in an effort to pull him deeper. They moved in rhythm as he pressed deeper, holding her hips and thrusting harder until she screamed his name. He groaned deep in his chest
and collapsed on top of her, tracing kisses along her jawline. “You are divine.” His whisper tickled her earlobe and she laughed lightly. Sliding out from beneath him, Morrigan pulled her robe from the floor and covered herself.

  A soft breeze rippled in through the cave’s only entrance. Like many of their kin, Morrigan loved the cool recesses of this world’s caves. There was much to be seen in their crevices and hidden pools while affording them protection and privacy. Especially now that she had taken a lover. Morrigan looked over her shoulder at her lover, one of the finest of her kind. He loved her. He chose her.

  “We chose each other, Morrigan.” His arms wrapped casually around her waist and he laid a head on her shoulder. “What shall we do this day? What realm shall we travel to?”

  “Let us stay here. I wish to watch the growing of the world.” Morrigan sighed as she looked out through the entrance to the vast flatlands that would soon become so much more.

  “I do not care to see this world any longer, Morrigan. Let us go.” He tugged at her playfully but his voice betrayed him.

  “I am not leaving today.” Morrigan turned to face her lover. “I will not be leaving for several months.”

  He looked at her, confusion etched in his features. “But why?”

  “I am with child.” Morrigan grinned, waiting for her lover to mirror her own joy. He did not.

  “It is not possible.” He backed away from her, his facing changing.

  “But it is.” Morrigan’s heart sank. “We are fortunate. She will be born to this world with a purpose.”

  “No. It is not possible.” He backpedaled to the entrance of the cave. “I cannot have a child. How could you do this to me?”

  Morrigan frowned. Tears burned at her eyes. “What are you saying?”

  “I am leaving. Get rid of the child and I may return. I cannot be a father.” His eyes were cold, his tone cruel and he spun away from her to disappear into nothingness.

  Morrigan fell to the floor, the chill of the smooth stones seeping into her frame. He was gone. How would she choose? Was there even a choice?